A celebrated artist, in several media, including oil, pastels, and
stained glass, Sarah Wyman Whitman was a principal designer for Houghton,
Mifflin. Her spare and elegant book designs are important manifestations
of the Art Nouveau style in America. For Celia Thaxter’s An
Island Garden she created a striking row of stylized poppies whose
attenuated stems end in hearts, executed in gold-stamped green publisher’s
cloth.